Presence in the Face of Pain

Are we ever really ready to experience the powerlessness of events we don’t understand?

Trials, struggles, chronic pain, a frightening diagnosis, the loss of a loved one… Are we ever truly ready to accept -much less overcome- something tragic that happens to us?

Most likely, the answer is “no.” However, what can we, as friends and as a community, do to help ourselves and others deal with life when it knocks us down?

In the face of life’s difficulties, friendship’s most profound blessing is to be completely and powerfully present in the moment. It is remarkable the amount of hope and consolation we can share by simply being there for one another in that very moment of strife. We may say, “I don’t understand why this happened, and I don’t know what to do, but I am here with you.”

Be willing to be courageous in the face of pain by embracing it and don’t busy yourself with distractions that hide what you’re going through. Stand together with someone you love and seize the glimmer of hope that sparks from simple companionship. Instead of truing to “fix” the pain that’s inevitable, choose to show genuine care by being fully and completely present with one another in the face of life’s struggles.